When They're Gone
by Shepherdinha
Summary: After Epps escaped from prison, FBI invited Lightman Group to help with the investigation. Will Cal and Gillian be able to help them out? Will Epps be able to get to Bones? What will happen between CG and BB? I suck in Summary...pls READ!
1. Chapter 1

Lightman Group hallway

FBI special agent Bernard Dillon walked through the big glass door of Lightman Group, nervously holding a manila file folder and suddenly stopped in the track when he heard someone calling his name.

'Beeeeernard!' a British accent came from somewhere nearby and he saw Cal Lightman, the co-owner of this company, striding straight towards him.

'I thought we were done with the shining FBI.' Cal sounded sarcastically, 'or YOU, for that matter!'

'Dr. Lightman, it's been a long time. How you doing lately?' the nervous FBI tried a smile.

'Oh, do me a favor, cut the crap.' Cal waved his hand in the air like he was waving away a fly or something, 'just tell me why you are here and FYI, you should know that you are very much unwelcomed here.'

Bernard felt quite embarrassed but he had to do this. 'Look, Dr. Lightman, I know I promised to leave your company alone and you know I wouldn't be here unless I have to. Here's the thing, I'm kindly asking a favor from you and Dr. Foster and this is REALLY important.' Bernard finished up his prepared talk fast and waited for Cal's reply.

Cal shrugged, 'Does the FBI always take themselves that seriously? I mean, every time you said it's important, urgent or critical, it turned out to be some kind of childish prank.' Cal didn't even try to hide the contempt in his voice.

'You will be paid, WELL.' Bernard was grabbing the last life-saving straw.

'Oh, that's new. Well, I don't care about money, but this may make Foster happy.' He stepped forward, shortening the distance between himself and the agent, 'just for the heads up, Foster's…uh…kinda going through a rough time, middle life crisis maybe? She's a little bit cranky… so you better make it a solid offer.'

'Did I hear cranky?' Dr. Gillian Foster appeared right behind Cal and talked into his ear.

'Bloody hell, woman. You've got to stop doing this or I'll have a heart attack.' Cal jumped aside and yelled.

Foster seemed entertained by doing this to his partner, 'come on, Cal. A heart attack? Seriously? Your heart is just as stubborn as your temper.' She then turned to look at Bernard, face hardening, 'what do you want?'

Bernard was almost taken aback by the cold voice that came from the beautiful doctor, 'I…I just told Dr. Lightman that I needed a favor…'

'And what makes you think that we'd give it to you?' Foster asked.

'It's not a pro bono, Gill, we'll be paid, WELL.' Cal added.

Foster turned to see Cal making a funny face and gestured towards her shoes, 'I think it's time you bought yourself a new pair of shoes and bought me that very expensive scotch you drank the other day.'

'Fine. Let's hear what you've got, agent Dillon. And then WE decide whether we take it or not.' On saying this, Foster walked to the conference room.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: I just realized that I didn't mention this, I DON'T OWN BONES OR LIE TO ME, I wish I did.**

**This is my first fanfic, so pls be gentle :) All mistakes are mine. LOL.**

**P.S. Since English is not my mother tongue, mistakes on grammar or expression are to be expected…**

**OK, I'm rambling…Hope you guys love it!**

**Here's Chapter Two**

Conference Room

On the big screen was a man in his late 20s, probably early 30s, he was wearing an orange prison clothes, with chains around his wrists.

'That's familiar, I remember wearing one of these, they are quite uncomfortable.' Cal said, receiving a look from Gillian.

Bernard paused the video, 'The man's named Howard Epps, a serial killer the FBI caught years ago. He's a highly educated sociopath and killed 7 young women. When we first caught him, we only found one body and he didn't even confess to the murder, but with the overwhelming evidence, he was given a death sentence but he wanted to appeal. The court took his appeal and the FBI had to re-investigate the case when there's only 24 hours away from his execution.'

'Could you please cut right through the chase coz we're getting bored here.' Cal yawned. But Gillian seemed a little bit intrigued.

'Ok, I'll just skip to the end. FBI found another 6 bodies which are suspected to be victims of Epps, so they have to open a new case, which means…' Bernard's words were cut by Gillian, 'The execution would be suspended until the FBI finished investigating these new murders. Either way, Epps won coz he didn't have to die.'

'Clever Bastard!' Cal muttered.

'So, agent Dillon, you need our help how?' Gillian asked.

'Epps was in the State Prison of D.C.' Bernard began to explain but Cal stopped him, 'What do you mean WAS?'

'He killed one of the guards and escaped yesterday morning.' Bernard said angrily.

'Oops, that's a shame.' Cal teased.

'Cal.' Gillian gently stopped him, 'agent Dillon, there were two people in the visiting room with Epps. Seems like they are from the authorities?'

'Actually, they are from the FBI, well, one of them is, special agent Seeley Booth. The woman is Dr. Temperance Brennan, a forensic anthropologist from the Jeffersonian. They are the ones you're gonna work with.' Bernard replied, 'Epps seems to have some sort of feelings for Dr. Brennan and after the escape, he called her, saying something about starting killing again and waiting to hear her voice again.'

'That's creepy.' Cal began pacing in the room, 'so you are saying you need us to catch the bad guy.'

'Yes, Dr. Lightman. Epps is really dangerous outside and he said he'd call again, so I'm thinking since Dr. Foster specializes in vocal analysis and you are good at, well, almost everything, we could use your help on this one. Please.' Bernard begged.

'Alright, then. We are in.' Cal said nonchalantly and left the room.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N****：****many thx to those who have put my story on their alert list **** it's a big encouragement to me!**

**Don't own Lie To Me or Bones, they all belong to FOX. If I did, Cal and Gill, Booth and Brennan would already be together by now…**

**Chapter Three**

**Hoover Building, Booth's office**

Special agent Seeley Booth is a man with no fear, but now, he was frightened by the fact that the sick Bastard Howard Epps had gotten out of jail and was coming after his partner, his Bones.

He ran a hand through his hair and sighed, he'd been up since they found out about the escape and he's getting more and more tense after the Bastard called Bones.

'Hey, Booth.' Dr. Temperance Brennan entered her partner's office and studied carefully his face, 'You don't look good. Maybe you need a rest.'

'No. I'm fine and the last thing I need is a damn rest. How can you be so calm, Bones? I mean, he's coming after you, for god's sake.' Booth sounded really frustrated.

'Well, that's not true, Booth. Epps said he'd start killing and he'd like to meet me again. So logically speaking, I'm the one who's coming after him, not him coming after me.' Brennan said matter-of-factly.

'What?' Booth was totally confused, 'anyway, what I'm trying to say is that there's a really bad guy out there, probably the worst I've ever come across. He's totally capable of doing any bad thing! And he's got a thing for you, Bones, which makes you his main target and we don't even have a clue where he is now.'

'We will find him, Booth. Just take it easy.' Brennan put her hand on Booth's forearm.

'You don't actually believe that, do you?' Both Brennan and Booth looked up and saw a middle aged white man entering the room with his hands in his pockets.

Seeing confusion and surprise on their faces, Cal Lightman added, with a wide grin 'Oops, forgot to knock, sorry. And am I interrupting something?'

'Who the hell are you?' Booth asked, and then agent Dillon appeared, with a really attractive woman right behind him.

'Agent Booth, Dr. Brennan, I can see that you already met Dr. Cal Lightman and this is Dr. Gillian Foster, they are lie specialists from the Lightman Group, they will be assisting us on the Epps case.' Dillon made a brief introduction.

'What? Lie specialist? What the hell is that? Me and Bones don't need any outside helper on this one, we got it.' Booth said firmly.

'Well, hello to you, too, agent Booth.' Gillian said with a smile, which made Booth a little embarrassed, 'and as for your doubts, we are specialized in telling whether people are lying or not through their faces, body languages or voices.'

'Booth is quite good at reading people, too.' Brennan added eagerly.

'Really? Seems we have more in common than I expected.' Gillian turned to Cal, 'what do you think, Cal?'

Cal's been very quiet since they started the introduction and his eyes are firmly locked on the two people standing in front of him. 'I agree with you, love. We are gonna have so much fun together.'

'We don't need your help!", Booth found this British guy really annoying and frankly, he's feeling uncomfortable thinking Cal could probably see right through him. However, Dr. Foster seemed quite nice. What's with all these women doctors today? Are they all that pretty? No, No, No! Get a grip, Seeley, Bones is now in danger and you're thinking of this?

'Oh, really? You can handle this on your own? Then why did your boss came to us for help, you know, begging is not one of his strength. Ok, so you tell me, what do you get from Epps' phone call? You've been interrogated him for a long time, do you really know him?' Cal was very aggressive now.

Agent Dillon thought it was time to play the role of peacemaker, 'Dr. Lightman and Dr. Foster are world-first-class lie specialists and they helped FBI with cases before, so I believe if the four of you can work together, Epps' good days are counting down. Agent Booth, you do want this nightmare over as soon as possible, don't you?'

'Fine.' Booth gave in, maybe this British guy does have something good to offer. He's already on the edge, thanks to Epps. Besides, whenever it came to Bones, he just started to panic. Some fresh insights are not necessarily a bad idea.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: sorry for the delay. :P **

**actually I have finished written this story, but it's in Chinese, so I have to do the translation, which is a bit hard for me…**

**I'll try to keep up.****pls bear with me…apologize for every single mistake…**

**This chapter is much longer than the previous one, hope you enjoy it!**

**I own NOTHING.**

**Chapter Four**

FBI Conference Room

'Dr. Brennan, it was extremely painful locked up in that dark jail, you know that? It's been a long time since I ever felt the joy of freedom.' The phone recording of Epps calling Bones filled the conference room, "Pain and loneliness can actually change a man. Only at the moment I broke out of there did my lung get some fresh air and suddenly everything ahead of me seemed so bright. Only then, I realized that how stupid I was, obsessed with what I didn't love by my heart. Even though what I really want is still far away from my reach, looking back my life in prison, I finally found that there were some good things around me, which just didn't occur to me back then. Dr. Brennan, I have to go, coz you know, it takes a lot of preparation for a man just getting out of jail to do when he's re-starting his old business.'

'I guess this phone call was untraceable?' Gillian asked.

'Actually, we found the trace of this call, but it's a public one so when we got there, he's long gone by then.' Booth answered.

'And he didn't leave anything suspicious there.' Brennan appeared to be very frustrated.

'That might not be true. What I'm thinking is that he's already left us some tiny hints.' Cal glanced at Booth, looking like he's gonna challenge him. 'He was pointing out the direction, I believe Dr. Foster's also noticed.'

'Pointing out a direction? He didn't mention anything about direction.' Bones blurted out.

'Dr. Brennan, you are really interesting. Agent Dillon told me that you were a world-first-class forensic anthropologist with a high intellectual level, but seems like sometimes you can do nothing about normal human being talk.' Gillian teased.

'I'm just not good at slang… actually, anthropologically speaking, slang is merely a meaningless expression used to express people's feelings or opinions more vividly.' Here started another anthropology lecture of Dr. Brennan.

Gillian started to feel close to this 'awkward' doctor. She was quite sincere and you don't even need to read her to know what's on her mind. Really adorable.

"Epps said that his habit has been altered and he stressed on the word 'altered', meaning that he's no longer the man when you were doing the investigation. Plus, he also mentioned that what he was obsessed with earlier was not his true love, with he found recently." Gillian's words were cut by Booth, "we know about his true love right now, it's Bones."

"Oi, can you just shut your mouth and let the lady finish? You call yourself a gentleman?" Cal scolded at Booth.

Gillian smiled and continued, "in this case, we should be looking for the distinguish difference between Dr. Brennan and our former victims and also if there's any thing in common with those former victims."

"Well, I have 3 doctorates, which I don't think they do." Brennan thought for a while and answered.

Cal felt like that he just ate a fly. How blunt can this woman be ? The way she talked was nothing but being absolute sincere instead of showing off. This is rarely interesting to Cal. Foster can't help smiling either.

"That's one thing, but I don't think it's want Epps meant. I've went through the files and some of the former victims were also highly educated, so it's not we call a distinguish difference. Anything else ?" Gillian was trying to make Booth and Brennan think more thoroughly.

"Blonde！They were all blonde!" Booth shouted excitedly.

"Great! This may be something coz Dr. Brennan has dark hair." Gillian nodded.

Brennan seemed to be confused, "How do you know that, Booth? The bodies were all severely decomposed when found. It's very hard to tell."

Booth sighed, "Bones, you were just focused on the bones while I was looking at their entire lives. I've gone through almost everything in their files for this case, looked at countless photos and I can't get their faces out of my head. That's why I'm so sure about that, they were all blondes."

"ok, that's our first breakthrough, meaning that Epps' target is no longer blonde women, he's now targeting women with dark hair instead. But since he stated clearly that Dr. Brennan is still beyond his reach, so I think for now, he's not going to do anything to her, however, he also mentioned that he's restarting his old business, which probably means that he's preparing for the first kill and he's chosen his target." Gillian said, "He told us he just found something beautiful around him, what do think about that?"

Cal's eyes were basically glued to Gillian, thinking, That's my Girl! She's a much better vocal analyst than I am.

"Cal!", Gillian's voice brought him back to reality, "you ok?"

"I'm fantastic, love. Just drifted off a little bit." Cal showed an innocent grin, which Booth thinks was really annoying.

"Dr. Lightman, a woman's life is on the line while we're here talking, and you were drifted off? Be professional!" Booth barked.

"Oh? I'm not professional enough? If not for us, you stupid FBI wouldn't even know that he's changed his target, you would still be thinking that he's going after some blonde women." Cal shouted back, and the truth in his words left Booth no room for argument.

"Ok, you two calm down, we have a case to solve." Gillian said seriously. Booth and Cal stopped fighting each other immediately, looked like order from beautiful woman always worked.

"Agent Booth, when Epps was in prison, was there any woman with dark hair who's comparatively close or familiar to him? I figure that his first target would be people around him, which also explains having good things around."

Cal nodded, gave Gillian a big grin, showing his white teeth. Meanwhile, Foster glanced at him triumphantly, corner of her mouth rising up a little, which made Cal almost drift into that sweet smile again.

"People around him…he doesn't have a girlfriend, or sisters, plus being in prison means he's been round with men." Booth was thinking hard.

"Booth! Do you remember the girl we saw when we went to interrogate him last time? We were just leaving and she's in the waiting room, the security guard said that she's a lawyer or something, and she has dark hair." Brennan sounded very certain.

Brennan answered Booth in a matter-of-fact tone, "Of course, I have a high intellectual level and I'm also a best-selling author…" sensing that she's gonna start her usual speech, Booth interrupted her, but anyone could easily see in his eyes the kind of sparkle only when one finds his treasure.

"There's indeed a young woman, according to the security guard, she believes in Epps' innocence, so she often goes to visit him and help with his statement and appeal." Booth said to the rest three, "I'm calling the prison to pull out the list of visitor."

Seeing Booth leave the conference room, Brennan cleared her throat and said, "Dr. Lightman, Dr. Foster, thank you! You're really good at what you do, and I apologize for any impoliteness Booth and I may have shown earlier. But just for your reference, I still consider psychology a soft science and can't be counted on."

Gillian nodded with a smile, "That's ok, Dr. Brennan, and thanks for telling us your opinion about psychology. We can see that Agent Booth cares a lot about you, that's why he's so concerned. Sometimes when it comes to someone close to us, our judgment may be affected." On saying that, she casted a meaningful look at Cal, thinking about those times when Emily's concerned, Cal became crankier than ever. Emily always comes first…it also occurred to her that how helpless she was when Cal put himself in danger.

"Oh, Booth and I, we're just partners. I mean, partners care about each other, right?" Brennan seemed a little bit nervous.

"Easy, darling. We didn't say you were something else. However, your face told me everything." Cal said with a naughty grin, and Brennan started blushing, almost as red as an apple.

**A/N pls tell me what do you think...**


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Thanks for starlight 354's support! Just taking a break from the struggle with my dissertation, translated a short chappy, hope you guys enjoy!**

**STILL DON'T OWN ANYTHING. *sad sad***

**note: this chapter has change of scene, i underlined the places every time the scene is altered.**

**plus, i hate my limited vocabulary, can anyone tell me some other words with the same meaning as 'Interesting'? like how can i put the sentence 'he's interesting' in another way?**

**i'm tired of using this same adjective over and over again, but i cannot think of another one...*shame***

**anyway, here's chapter five.**

**Chapter Five**

**Ten minutes later, Conference Room**

Booth hurried back to the conference room, feeling a sense of weirdness. "What happened?"

"Nothing!" Brennan blurted out, only to realize afterwards that she may have been overacted a little bit, "You've got the name, Booth?"

At this very moment, Cal and Gillian shared a meaningful smile, with one same word on their mind: Deflection, classic deflection.

Booth nodded, 'Girl's named Rita Scott, she just started her career as a lawyer. I don't know what's wrong with her but she believes in Epps' innocence. According to the security guard, she goes visit him every week…'

'Oi, if I'm right, this girl's Epps' first target. Agent Booth, do you think we should go find her first?' Cal cut booth off, sarcastically.

Booth stiffened for a little while, realizing that he indeed failed to work on the priority, 'You're right, Dr. Lightman. Let's go find this girl before she's dead.'

Watching Booth and Brennan leaving the conference, Cal turned to Gillian and whispered, 'He seems a little bit, you know, bull-headed.' Cal gestured, waving his hands, 'but he listens to people.'

Gillian couldn't help with a small laugh, she push softly on Cal's shoulder, 'Give him a break, Cal. He's really worried about Dr. Brennan.'

Cal shrugged nonchalantly, but a sudden feeling of unease emerged. He couldn't imagine if this was happening to Gill, how would he react. Probably a lot more agitated than Booth was. He sighed, who to blame for calmness being never one of his strengths.

**Parking Garage**

Four of them entered the parking garage in the basement, with Booth briefing them on the way there. Rita lived in D.C. alone, working 9 to 5. She rented a small apartment near her work place, which was not far from where Epps had been held.

'I've been calling her cell, but she's not picking up. I've got to say, guys, I have a bad feeling about this.' Booth said worriedly.

'Is this one of your gut-talking, Booth? She could be busy or she's changed her number and the file you got has not been updated. No need to jump to conclusion.' Classic Dr. Brennan's answer.

Booth was made speechless by Brennan's classic retort, he held up his hands, showing peace, 'Fine, Bones. Let's go find out.' Then he turned to Cal and Gillian, 'My suggestion would be you two not go with us coz nobody knows what would happen out there. You can stay here and help with the investigation, it's safer.'

'Bloody hell we're not going with you, captain America. Since you said it was dangerous, why don't you let your charming Doctor stay?' Cal said with a thick British accent.

'We are partners. That's what we do. We catch bad people. Besides, I've been trained in many different kinds of martial arts, which can be very helpful in such situation.' Brennan never forgot stating the fact of her brilliant talent of martial arts, not only for once.

'Very impressive, Dr. Brennan.' Gillian said, smiling.

'Look, I don't have time for this argument. You can go but you do what you're told, man with the gun goes first. Are we clear?" Booth was being very serious.

'Loud and clear, Captain America.' Cal teased.

'I've always wanted a gun.' Bones murmured.

Cal and Gillian couldn't control the rising on the corner of their mouths anymore, this Dr. Brennan had a extremely interesting personality and her relationship with that FBI agent was also worth figuring out. Cal felt himself even more intrigued by this rather than studying local people's eyebrows in Papua New Guinea back then.

**In Cal's Prius**

Cal and Gillian were driving after Booth's SUV, 'So, what's your opinion, love?' Cal asked without taking his eyes off road.

Gillian was a little confused, 'About what? This case or Dr. Brennan?'

'Of course about Dr. Brennan, why would I wanna talk about this case, it's bloody boring.' Cal said matter-of-factly.

Gillian rolled her eyes, classic Cal Lightman, 'I think Dr. Brennan is really intriguing, I can say that she's the most honest person I've ever met. Maybe in some people's eyes she's socially awkward, but I'd very much like to be her friend. Plus, Cal, I think her existence challenges one of your theories.'

Cal turned to look at Gillian, eyebrow rising suggesting that he needed more explanation.

'You told me once, truth or happiness, never both, and all the case we dealt with so far proved that you were right. But don't you think Dr. Brennan is an exception in your theory? She sticks to the truth and she's happy, people around her are happy too.' Gillian said.

'I don't think so, love. Maybe she just hasn't found out the kind of truth that brings her pain. I hold on to my theory.' On saying that, Cal made a mental note that he's gonna ask Torres and Loker do a background on Brennan and Booth. He knew for sure that Gillian wouldn't approve of that, so he had to find a way to keep their mouths shut. He sighed inwardly, Cal Lightman, you call yourself a fearless man, then what's with those two women: Gillian Foster and Emily Lightman?

'I'm not saying you're totally wrong. Just maybe sometimes we can have them both. You're a truth hunter, Cal, but that doesn't necessarily mean you can't be happy. I want you to be happy.' Foster put her hand gently on Cal's forearm, a sudden warmness almost made Cal's heart skip a beat.

'I know, love. I want the same thing for you, too.' Seeing Booth's car slow down, Cal slowly pulled over.


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: TADA! Another chapter! managed to seize the last minute of this weekend :)**

**like the previous one, this one's got change of scene too, hopefully you won't get confused.**

**DON'T OWN THEM! WISH I DID!**

**Chapter Six**

**In front of Rita Scott's Apartment Building**

Four of them were now standing in front of an old apartment building of D.C., although it wasn't located very far away from downtown, since there's a prison nearby, there seemed to be few people or stores. Booth was already fully armed, with vet and his gun. He turned around to those three, 'FBI's backup is on their way, I'm going in first to check up, the three of you stay right here, understood?'

'I'm coming with you!' Bones and Cal said simultaneously. If Cal had turned to look at Gillian for one second, he would have noticed that she went totally pale on hearing that. Cal's recklessness obviously scared the hell out of her. However, Booth didn't miss this one.

'No and No, neither of you is coming with me. Remember? I'm the man with a real gun!' Booth said seriously, then he asked Cal, 'You ok with leaving your lady doctor here alone?'

'So you're ok with leaving yours?' Cal didn't even flinch.

'No, I'm not ok with it, so I'm asking you to stay. Don't think I'm doing this to protect you, you're a grown up man, you don't need my protection. I need you to take care of them. Clear? Stay right where you are, and if anything happens to them, ANYTHING, you're dead. Dr. Lightman, am I understood?' obviously, Booth's not gonna take NO for an answer.

Booth may have sounded more than a little bit harsh, but Cal read plea and trust in his eyes. 'Sure, I'll do my job, whatever it takes.' Cal patted Booth's shoulder, it's a guy thing.

'Booth, be careful!' Bones' voice was full of concern.

Booth squeezed her hand, nodded at Cal, then disappeared into this old building.

**Rita Scott's apartment**

Booth found the door was ajar and he could vaguely hear music inside. He gently pushed it open, 'Hello? Anyone here?' and he got no response.

He went into the living room, the furniture were well organized, suggesting no fighting. And there's still no one can be seen.

'Rita Scott? FBI!' Booth yelled twice before he was at the door to the bedroom, still no response. He had a sinking feeling in the stomach, _something is definitely wrong_.

**In front of Rita Scott's Apartment Building**

Cal, Gillian and Brennan were waiting eagerly for Booth to come back. You don't need to be an expert to see anxiety on their faces, especially on Brennan's. She was pacing back and forth, checking her cell every 30 seconds, telling herself, _Booth's gonna be fine, he's gonna be fine, calm down, calm down…_

Surely, experts like Cal and Gillian would never miss her behavior. Gillian walked up to Brennan, placing her hand gently on her shoulder, 'Dr. Brennan, you need to calm down. Stop pacing and take a deep breath. Agent Booth is going to be fine.'

'You don't know that.' Brennan said.

'No, I don't, but I know that Agent Booth is really good at his job and there's only a tiny bit of chance Epps would still be in there even if he had killed Rita. Right? Logically speaking, he'd never stay there and wait for us to catch him, would he?' Gillian knew that Brennan was all about logic, and that's why she's talking like this.

She saw in the corner of her eyes that Cal nodded at her and came close to them, 'Yes, darling, Gillian's right. No need to worry.'

'Ok, you are making sense, Dr. Foster, thank you. I don't know what's happening to me, I just can't think rationally.' Brennan smiled gratefully at Gillian.

'You're welcome. Everyone needs a proper comfort once in a while. I'm glad I can help.' Gillian was always that nice.

**Rita Scott's apartment**

Booth slowly pushed the bedroom door open, praying that nothing was wrong. He held on tight to his gun, holding his breath, finally, the door was fully open.

At this time, what's in front of him made him take a step back, 'what the hell?' though in shock, Booth still kept in mind protocols, he quickly checked the rest of the apartment, certain that on one else's here, then went back to the bedroom, walking cautiously to the bed in the middle of the room.

There were lots of, lots of white daisy on the dark red mattress, being arranged as a shape of HEART. Rita Scott was lying there, her dark brown hair covered the daisy underneath her, the strong contrast of color made the whole vision even creepier. There was a dagger right in the middle of her chest, Booth could see dried blood on the white flowers. Only when this moment did he recognize the song playing in Rita's apartment, it was _Hot Blooded_, the song that he and Bones sang together at her apartment. All of this sent a chill down his spine.

On the bedstand there were photos of seven girls, seven girls that were killed brutally by Epps. Booth felt like that they were blaming him for not catching the killer. Stealing a glimpse on Rita's body, he suddenly saw Bones instead, lying there, bleeding. Booth could breathe anymore, he rushed out of Rita's apartment, hoping to leave this nightmare behind…

**In front of Rita Scott's Apartment Building**

'Peng!' the door of building was pushed open forcefully, a frightened, pale Booth appeared.

'Booth!' Brennan ran to his side, 'You ok?' she wanted to check if he's injured or not.

But Booth was just staring at nothing, unfocused, as if he didn't even hear her talking.

'Booth, you're scaring me. Booth!' Brennan shouted, her hands went to hold Booth's face.

Cal and Gillian also sensed that something was off with this agent, they hurried to them.

All of a sudden, Booth pulled Brennan into a tight hug, murmuring, 'Thank god, you're ok, you're ok.'

The rest three was stunned by what happened, even Cal didn't know what to do. At this very moment, FBI's backup arrived, sirens mixed with agents' footsteps, brought them back to reality.

'Agent Booth, what happened?' Agent Dillon demanded.

Only now did Booth loosen his arms around Bones, turning to his boss, stilling tightly grasping one of her arms, 'Sir, Rita Scott was murdered, and I'm sure it was Epps.'

'What? Then what were you doing here? You just left the crime scene unguarded? What were you thinking, for god's sake?' Agent Dillon became furious.

'Oi, calm down, Beeeeeeeernard. We were here and nobody's gone in there. Plus, it's business hour, the chance of crime scene being compromised is quite slim. You'd better get your ass up there instead of yelling before something bad really happens.' Cal said sarcastically, obviously not happy with the stupid agent.

Agent Dillon knew from the beginning of Cal's words that he'd lost this argument, so he gathered his people and went inside.

'Booth, you ok?' Brennan still sounded worried.

'Yes, I'm fine.' Booth said without hesitation.

'Oh, bollocks.' Cal couldn't help pointing out the evident lie, but he was stopped by Gillian's gentle squeeze on his upper arm, _alright then, boss's order, I'll just shut up_, he told himself.

'What did you see?' Bones asked.

'Rita Scott was murdered…the crime scene was just creepy, more than creepy. I know I don't have a chance stopping you from going in there, so I have to warn you to be prepared.' Booth said seriously.

'Ok, then. Let's go.' Cal walked into the building, followed by the rest of three.

**A/N: what do you think of this chapter? pls...leave a review...thx in advance.**


	7. Chapter 7

A/N: A comparatively light day at office! so i did this little chappy when my boss was not breathing down my neck :)

Don't own any of it!

**Chapter Seven**

**Rita Scott's Apartment**

They were standing by the door to Rita's bedroom, even for a fearless man like Cal and Bones who's used to those bloody murder crime scene, it's way beyond creepy and sent a chill down everyone's spine. Cal could tell that Gillian was shaking slightly. He reached to hold her hand, sensing coldness. Gillian was like Booth from moments before, unfocused eyes, clearly in shock.

'Hey love. You alright? We don't have to be here if you're not feeling comfortable. Let's get out of here, ok?' Cal asked softly, adding a little force to their holding hands, his free hand went to caress Gillian's cheek, preventing her from seeing that horrible scene.

All Gillian could feel was endless coldness and it was all blank in her head. She realized vaguely that Cal's hand was holding hers and slowly, she came back to reality, finding Cal looking at her with extreme softness, concern and care in his hazel eyes.

'I'll be fine, Cal. We need to help them catch this guy.' Gillian said firmly.

'Ok, then. If you say so, love. Just remember that I'm gonna be with you every step of the way.' Cal comforted.

'I know. You always are.' Gillian gave Cal's hand a slight squeeze.

Bones recovered from the initial shock quickly, feeling a complicated emotional mixture even a woman of vocabulary like her couldn't describe. On one hand, she felt rage. She was so angry that Epps had taken another young life and that she hadn't found this out earlier, causing the tragic death of this girl. On the other hand, she couldn't deny the slightest bit of curiosity and thrill she felt deep down. Epps was a strong opponent, no doubt, he knew Brennan much better then she had assumed. Besides the fact that daisy was her second favorite flower, he even knew about her song with Booth, _Hot Blooded_, for god's sake, Angela didn't even know that. It could be said that to a certain point, Brennan would expect to meet him again, or let's say, to be engaged in a dangerous game with him. But replaying the moment when Booth appeared at the building entrance, pale and panic, Brennan couldn't help feeling extreme unease. Booth was abnormally agitated about this case, did it really have something to do with her?

'Bones, what do we got?' Booth's voice pulled her out from her thinking.

'Well, our victim's female, all physical indications match ones of Rita Scott's, but I assume you can draw the same conclusion too.' Here started the classic Bones tone, and Booth began to drift off.

'Was dead for about 5 hours, dagger cut right into her heart and she bled out. (A/N: just forgive me if there's anything wrong with the medical thing…I cannot do the squint talking…) But since my expertise is bones, so I'd prefer not jumping to conclusion until after Cam does the autopsy.' Brennan stated.

'I see, you want all of these take back to the Jeffersonian, right?' Booth lifted his index finger and gestured a circle.

'Absolutely. Those FBI forensic guys…' Bones began and was cut off by a smiling Booth.

'They suck. I know, you're the best.' Booth shouted to agents outside the door, 'You heard the lady, let's take these back to the Jeffersonian.'

Just as the four of them were about to leave Rita's apartment, Brennan's cell phone began to ring, displayed name being 'Private caller'. Brennan stunned just for a second, and showed her phone to the others, that's when a same name came up in their minds: Howard Epps. Booth ran out to try to track Brennan's cell.

'Brennan.' Brennan took a deep breath and answered the phone.

'Hello, Dr. Brennan. Did you enjoy the show I put on just for you? I know you love daisy. It means love. You know what, I can see the red blood spreading on those little white daisies. It's so beautiful. People always tell me that my world would be grey, but you see, I can make it colorful. Oh, and that song, what's it called? _Hot Blooded_? I know both you and Agent Booth love it. I'm back on track now, so the clock is ticking. Every minute you waste, there might be one more victim and that's all on you. By the way, who's that beautiful lady with you? She seems really nice and feel free to invite her into our little game, we're gonna have so much fun together.' Epps' voice was like a nightmare, coming out from Brennan's cell phone.

Cal involuntarily reached for Gillian's hand, holding tight. _This sick bastard wants to take a hit on his Gill? NO BLOODY WAY!_ He shouted inwardly. Gillian instantly knew what was on Cal's mind when his hand touched hers, she placed her hand on his shoulder to reassure him. After knowing each other for almost 10 years, even the tiniest bit of physical contact could let both of them know exactly what the other was thinking, and it was comforting too.

'You know we're going to find you, Epps. You're not going to enjoy this much longer and I swear I will make you wish you hadn't done any of this when I catch you.' Brennan said sternly, clenching her jaw.

'Relax, Dr. Brennan. The game has just started, and you know where to find me. I'm looking forward to our next face to face meeting. Sorry, gotta go. See you.' Epps hung up.

Brennan, Gillian and Cal fell into a momentary silence, none of them knew what to say and they knew better than hoping Booth could track down this call. As expected, Booth came back, shoulder slumped, told them what they already knew. However, Gillian felt there was something unusual in Epps' last phone call, but she couldn't figure it out right away, so she chose to keep it to herself for now.


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: sorry for the slow update...I've been crazily busy...hopefully you're still with me on this story :)**

**Don't own any of the characters...**

**Chapter Eight**

**Lightman Group**

Four of them arrived at Lightman Group office, willing to give it a try to those advanced equipments and the do-whatever-asked labor force – Loker and Torres, see if they could find something unusual in Epps' phone call, and Cal also wanted to analyze some of the footages from the interrogation.

'I have to say, this place is more advanced than I've expected, Dr. Lightman. I always thought that psychology was just about a tissue box and a couch, like in Sweet's office.' Brennan would never know how her bluntness could change the whole atmosphere.

If it was someone else, Cal would have probably pinned him on the wall, but as for Dr. Brennan, Cal had a lot more tolerance, 'Well, Dr. Brennan, in case you haven't noticed, we're also scientists and we do have a lab.'

They walked into the break room, finding Torres and Loker chatting, 'Oi, you two, I don't pay you to chat, we've got a case.' Cal practically yelled.

'Dr. Lightman, Dr. Foster, uh…and these two are…clients?' Ria asked sheepishly.

'Actually, I'm FBI special agent…' Booth could never bear the others saw him other than FBI special agent, especially when being treated as Lightman's client, so he took the liberty to introduce himself, only to be cut halfway by Cal.

'My place, my rules. I'll do the introduction.' Cal side glanced him, 'and I'll let Dr. Foster have the honor.'

Since they had left the crime scene, Gillian was thinking about Epps' phone call over and over again, feeling that they'd missed something important. So when Cal was talking, she didn't really pay much attention. Cal finally noticed that Foster didn't even respond to his word, he put a hurt look on his face, 'Hey, love. You still here? Am I kind of disappeared right in front you?'

Eventually, Gillian came back to them, she smiled apologetically, 'Sorry, I was just thinking. So, Ria, Loker, this is FBI special agent Seeley Booth and this is Dr. Temperance Brennan from the Jeffersonian.' Then she turned to Booth and Brennan, 'They are two of our most helpful employees, Ria Torres and Eli Loker.'

Cal just didn't want to miss any chance to insult Loker, 'Foster, Loker now is an unpaid intern. Don't forget about that bit.'

Foster rolled her eyes at this irritating British, continued, 'We're helping the FBI on the Howard Epps case.'

'The Howard Epps? The pervert who killed 7 girls? Isn't he in prison?' Loker had indeed many questions.

'Well, not anymore, he escaped.' Booth was reluctant to bring this one up.

'What? How?' Loker didn't quite familiar with the expression called 'damn-it-I-don't-wanna-talk-about-it'.

'Shut up, Loker.' Though Cal would very much love to see an embarrassed Booth, he was aware of the priority. He turned to walk into the lab, followed by others.

* * *

**In the Lab**

Epps' phone recording was played again and again in the lab, and Foster's got a feeling that herself was getting closer to the answer. 'Is it just me or there's something weird about his words?' She decided finally to announce her doubt.

The rest shook their heads, and the words played at that exact moment was '_red blood spreading on the little white daisies…_'. Suddenly, the answer crossed Gillian's mind, 'Color! It's about the color!'

Others were momentarily stunned by her sudden shouting, confusion all over their faces, except for Cal's face, filled with realization and compliment, maybe a little jealousy too?

Gillian started explaining, 'First, he said '_red blood_', and then '_white daisies_', hearing it for a couple of times maybe don't call our attention, but when I heard it for more than 10 times, I could tell that something's definitely weird. Think about it, do we use an extra adjective 'red' to describe the blood? Normally we don't coz we all know that blood is red, so no need to put the word red again, but Epps did it anyway. It's the same with daisy, we don't usually use white on daisy either. Epps used the same abnormal expressive method on the same thing: color, and if I'm right, he's voice hit a high pitch when he said those two words.' Gillian pulled out the statistic shows the pitch of Epps's voice, and as expected, at those two places where he said '_red_' and '_white_', the pitch was obviously much higher. Besides that, there are another two high pitch places afterwards, Gillian looked around, 'I assume you all know when his pitch got higher.'

'When he said _grey_ and _colorful_.' Brennan was indeed bothered by her curiosity, 'I can see that it's unusual, but what does that mean?'

Cal decided it's time he jumped into the conversation, 'Well, generally speaking, it means that this person pays particular attention to colors or he's very sensitive of them, artists may have that problem, but obviously it doesn't fit Epps. So that only leaves us one more explanation, he's color blind.'

'Oh, come on! You can tell he's color blind just from what, the higher pitch?' Booth didn't believe even one word came from that arrogant British's mouth, it's ridiculous.

'Of course I can. Color blind people tend to keep it a secret and they don't like when people say that they can tell the difference between colors, especially so when it comes to total color blind people like Epps, therefore, he would seize every opportunity to use adjective on colors to show people that he's as normal as they are, but under many circumstances, it doesn't turn out well, some unnecessary adjectives will expose the fact that he's color blind.' Cal stated calmly.

'Total color blind? I think we all agree as scientists, we should use a more professional term, which is monochromasia. Anyway, how can you be so sure that he's monochromatic? I mean, even if he suffers from chromatelopsia, the percentage of monochromasia in chromatelopsia is really small.' Bones was still not convinced.

Cal looked at Gillian, letting her explain this.

Gillian cleared her throat, 'It's because he said '_people always tell me that my world would be grey, but you see, I can make it colorful._' Only total blind people, or shall I put in the way Dr. Brennan would like, monochromatic people, they see the world as grey, maybe you think he's referring to his life in prison, but when we put all the pieces together, we can see that's a pun, he also referred to his physical illness.'

Booth nodded understandingly, but Brennan still looked like she had doubts.

'Dr. Brennan, I'm gonna make a wild guess now or you may call it a unscientific assumption. You're struggling if you should believe in psychology or not, coz your experience tells you that it's soft but what you've seen today, what we do, tells you that it's, or at least, we're bloody awesome. Am I right?' Cal smiled, not tearing his eyes off Brennan.

'I…I suppose you're right, Dr. Lightman, but just to clarify, what I believe is evidence, which is well provided by you and Dr. Foster, as for psychology, I still hold my ground.' Bones said matter-of-factly.

'That's ok. Don't jump to conclusion, shall we?' Cal offered a big, naughty grin, which even made Gillian giggle a little.

'Wait!' Bones shouted, and the room suddenly fell into an absolute silence, 'if you're right and Epps has monochromasia, then how did he know the color of those girls' hair? We all agreed that he started with blonde women.'

Cal sounded very confident, 'Thought you might ask. Another wild guess? Epps got help. His little helper told him the color of our victims' hair, plus, I think they still keep in touch, or Epps wouldn't have known about Dr. Brennan and Rita's hair color.'

Then he turned to Booth, 'I read it in the file that he has a mother here in D.C., bring her in, I'll do the asking and I'm sure she'll confirm my guess.'

'Oh, by the way, a scientist's job is to verify. Do you agree with me, Dr. Brennan?' Cal said to Brennan, teasingly, and walked out of the lab, leaving the rest behind.

As always, Gillian couldn't do nothing about Cal acting like a spoiled kid, shaking her head, she mouthed 'I'm sorry' to Brennan, hoping that the beautiful doctor wouldn't mind Cal's odd behavior.

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**A/N: So, what do you think? pls kindly leave a REVIEW?**


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: Tada! can't believe we're at Chapter Nine :) hope u still find this story interesting...**

**Even if I wrote 900 Chapters, Lie To Me and Bones would never be MINE...NOT MINE NOT MINE, STILL NOT MINE.**

**Chapter Nine**

**Next Day**

**In the Cube，The Lightman Group**

Cal and Epps' mother were sitting at the opposite sides of the table in the cube. Cal suddenly appeared smaller in front her 250 pounds body…She seemed really nervous, tightly holding a glass of water on the table.

'Mrs. Epps, have you contacted your son lately?' Cal finally broke the silence.

'Howie? No, I haven't heard from him since the cops reopened the investigation.' She answered, no sign of deception.

'He's your only child and you didn't even bother to visit him in prison?' Cal asked, fixing his gaze on her face.

'We haven't been very close since his father left us.' This time, Cal read sadness on her face.

'So you have no idea where he is.'

'What do you mean? Isn't he in prison?' Mrs. Epps showed genuine surprise, which Cal didn't fail to catch, this woman is telling the truth.

* * *

**Outside the Cube, The Lightman Group**

Gillian, Booth and Brennan were watching the interview from outside the specially-made glass wall of the cube.

Gillian asked, 'So, what do you think?'

Booth was going to answer her question, but he was cut half way by Brennan, 'I think she should lose some weight. Obesity is the cause of many diseases, like diabetes, high blood pressure or stroke. I could offer her some advice later.'

Gillian couldn't suppress her surprise at Brennan's words, she glanced at Booth, but Booth seemed to be habitual to this kind of situation, 'Haha, this is exactly our Dr. Brennan, you'll never know what's she gonna say and trust me, it always blows up your mind.'

'It did indeed.' Gillian smiled.

'I don't know what that means.' Brennan said innocently.

'Anyway, I think she's telling the truth about not knowing her son's whereabouts.' Booth quickly turned the conversation back on the right track.

'So the rumor is true, you really can read people, huh? Agent Booth?' Gillian indirectly confirmed his answer.

'What rumor?' Bones felt that she was left out of their conversation, AGAIN.

'Dr. Foster means that I'm right…just…watch the interview, Bones.' Booth urged.

* * *

**In the Cube，The Lightman Group**

'He escaped.' Cal decided not to tell the poor woman about her son's newly committed murder, 'Now FBI is tracking him down and he said he's gonna kill again, so we need your help to find him before he makes another huge mistake.'

'But I don't know where he is!' Epps' mother was confused.

'It's ok, you can start by telling me something about his father.'

Cal's mention of her husband clearly put her into a miserable memory, she took a deep breath, staring slowly, 'When Howie was in elementary school, I got endocrine disorders, which leaded to, well, look at me. At first, his father would comfort me and accompany me to doctors' appointments, but after a while, he lost his patience, he thought I was ugly and fat. When Howie was in grade five, he met some blonde outside and left us, never came back. Howie blamed me for his father's betrayal and was cold to me, it was around that time that Howie and I grew far away.' She finished talking, seemed exhausted.

'So Epps stared to hate blondes around that time?' Cal asked.

'Maybe.' The poor woman looked like that all the strength was taken from her.

'Just one problem, Mrs. Epps. Epps is color blind, so how did he know that those women were blondes?' Cal dropped his lazy demeanor, body tensed.

Epps' mother showed astonishment this time, 'Who are you? How do you know that Howie's color blind? He never talks about it and he hates when others mention it.'

'So that means my wild guess was right, he indeed is color blind.' Cal looked at the direction where the rest three should be, even though he couldn't see the outside, he knew they were watching, Dr. Brennan was watching.

Then he turned to Mrs. Epps again, 'so how did he know that those women were blondes?'

'I don't know for sure, just someday he came home from school and asked me if that…that woman was blonde. I said yes, and I guess his classmates at school told him that.'

'Does he have any good friends from elementary school with whom he still keeps in touch?' Cal asked eagerly, he felt that he's onto something.

'Howie never had many friends at school, I can only remember a boy named Michael Turner, he sometimes came to our house spend some time with Howie, but I don't know what's he doing now.'

'Thank you, Mrs. Epps, you've been a great help.' Cal walked her out of the cube.

* * *

**Outside the Cube, The Lightman Group**

Hearing the confirmation from Epps' mother that he's color blind, Brennan and Booth had to take this 'cranky' British seriously, _looked like he's very good at what he did_, Booth thought, but when the name 'Michael Turner' came into his ears, he shivered involuntarily, straightening his upper body.

'You ok, Booth?' Brennan felt Booth's body tense up next to her, Gillian was also looking at Booth with concern.

'Michael Turner, I've seen this name somewhere, but I can't remember exactly.' Booth sounded frustrated.

'It's ok, agent Booth. Take your time.' Gillian said softly.

'So, what do you got?' Cal strode towards them.

'Oh, basically, as much as you do, Cal, but we do have a little more here, agent Booth thinks he knows the name Michael Turner.' Gillian said.

An obvious happy smile crept onto Cal's face, but happiness doesn't stopped him from giving a hard time to Booth, 'Oh yeah? Finally decided to make yourself useful, agent Booth?'

He successfully got himself three angry gazes from the rest, and finally he thrown up his hands, showing peace, 'Alright, alright, I was just joking. So who's this Michael guy?'

'I know it! I've seen this name on the list of all the guards in the prison! He was on call the day Epps escaped. I'm bringing him in for questioning. Bones, you stay with Dr. Lightman and Dr. Foster, don't go anywhere on your own.' Booth said sternly.

Bones was about to say she wanted to go with him but Booth stormed out of the room, never leaving her a chance to open her mouth.

'I didn't know such a big guy could move that fast.' Cal was always being CAL…

'Cal.' The way Gillian said his name always send a pleasure shiver down his spine, he stopping joking about Booth immediately.

'Seems we're getting somewhere.' Gillian said happily, showing her gorgeous smile as always.

'Yes, we are.' Bones said with a twinkle in her beautiful blue eyes.

**

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pls leave a REVIEW :)**


	10. Chapter 10

A/N: I can't help imagining the interraction between Cal and Bones :) hope you like it!

DON'T OWN THEM, UNFORTUNATELY...

**Chapter Ten**

**Half an hour later, Lab**

Cal, Gillian and Bones were going through the footages of Epps' interrogation in the lab, hoping to find something that could lead them to his whereabouts.

'Ouch, bloody hell. Dr. Brennan you never stop surprising me.' on seeing Brennan break Epps' wrist, he shouted as if he could feel the pain too.

'He was threatening me! It was merely self-defense, and I just happened to know how to defend myself.' Brennan tried to explain herself.

'Easy, darling. You sure know how to defend yourself. What I said was a compliment, he deserved it. Good job!' Cal tried his best to appear stern, but inwardly he was laughing his ass off.

'Oh, well, thank you, Dr. Lightman. I always find intellectually pleased when talking to people with doctorate. And you can tell it's a compliment, and I'm not lying, right?' after thinking for a while, she said seriously.

'Sure, it's my honor to offer you an intellectual pleasure, Dr. Brennan.' Cal couldn't help laughing any more, he stole a i-need-your-help glance from Gillian.

Gillian seemed to be totally absorbed in the video, not even noticing the little interaction between Cal and Brennan.

'Hey, love. You found something?' Cal knew it's the moment to get serious.

'I'm not sure, but look at this.' On the screen now is after seeing Brennan, Epps' being escorted back to his cell, 'I think the guard who's escorting Epps gave him something, in his palm.' Gillian zoomed in on his hand, though the resolution was not good, it was recognizable that the guard secretly put a little paper ball into Epps' palm.

'Yep, he did. That must be Michael Turner.' Cal paused the video, 'My best guess is that he was telling him what color Dr. Brennan's hair was.'

Cal pulled out several security videos when some young female lawyers or some nut fans went to visit Epps in the prison, realizing that it was the same guy who escorted Epps every single time. He would nod or shake his head slightly while he's telling Epps 'you have a visitor'. For most of the times, he would shake his head, and then Epps would look really disappointed, however, when he nodded, Epps' face showed delight and satisfaction. And it couldn't be a coincidence that during this few times, the visitors were Brennan and Rita Scott. Looked like this Michael Turner guy was the right guy.

'Loker, go through the video, snap some clear screenshots of this guy, and send them to agent Booth. Oh, and find anything you can on this guy and Epps.' Cal ordered.

'On it.' Loker ran back to his desk and started to work.

Brennan's cell phone chose this moment to make its announcement, she saw the caller's ID was Booth and answered quickly, 'Booth, we identified Michael Turner, he's the one who always escorted Epps when he had a visitor. Dr. Lightman already had someone send his photos to you.'

'Oh, about that…' Booth paused for a second before continuing, 'I'm calling to tell you that he hasn't shown up at work since Epps escaped. I'm going over to his place now, hopefully the address on his file isn't a fake.'

'What? Do you think he's with Epps now?' Bones asked eagerly.

'I don't know, Bones. Better hope he's not dead…' Booth said with a sigh, 'gotta go, Bones. Stay with Dr. Lightman…'

He was cut halfway by Brennan, 'and Dr. Foster. I know, Booth. Be careful.'

'I will. Bye, Bones.'

'Bye.'

Brennan told Cal and Gillian the situation, it seemed that all the clues were leading to nothing, and Epps was nowhere to find.

'Ok, then. So I guess there isn't much we can do right now. Why don't you two beautiful ladies go out for a lunch while a gentleman like me stay here analyzing those videos?' Cal tried to light the situation.

'Sounds like a good idea. You must be hungry, Dr. Brennan.' Gillian started walking back to her office to retrieve her coat and purse.

'Ok, guess I'll see you later, Dr. Lightman.' It was quite rare for Brennan to agree to have lunch without any hesitation. She was actually worried sick about Booth, but she had a close feeling for Dr. Foster and wanted to have a good chat with her over lunch.

'Hold on!' Cal stopped Brennan, taking a credit card out of his pocket, 'Here, lunch's on me.'

'No, thanks. I'm a best selling author and I'm perfectly capable of paying my own meals. I'm sure so is Dr. Foster.' Brennan had her own principle.

'I know you're rich, Dr. Brennan, but first of all, a gentleman like me would never miss a chance to buy a lady her meal, and secondly, trust me, Foster would love to use this card if she could. Even if you don't want to use it, could you please give it to her as a favor for me?' Cal was like a stubborn kid, insisting Brennan take his card.

'Fine. I'll give it to her, but I'm not using it.' Brennan stated again, loud and clear.

'That's ok. Thanks.' Cal grinned widely.

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**Next Chapter is about a conversation between Gillian and Bones :) i'll try to update soon!**


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N: sorry about the slow update...have been so busy lately...**

**here's another no-so-long chapter for you guys, hope you'd like the conversation between Gillian and Brennan :)**

* * *

**Chapter Eleven**

**At the Restaurant**

Gillian and Brennan walked into a seemingly luxurious Italian restaurant. Brennan was planning on going to some diner or something, but Gillian insisted they come here, saying that they had the best stake in town. What's different about Gillian and Brennan was that, however busy Gillian was, she never gave up her pursue towards delicacy.

Sitting down by the big glass window, after ordering, they were about to make some small talk when Bones said suddenly, 'Oh, I forgot something.' She handed the credit card that Cal gave her to Gillian, 'Dr. Lightman wanted us to use his credit card but I said no, he still insist I give it to you.'

Foster shook her head, took the card and asked, 'What else did he say?'

Brennan thought for a while, 'Oh, he said you would love to use it if you could.'

Foster couldn't help a smile, she broke the card into two halves and put them into her pocket.

Brennan was totally stunned, her jaw literally dropped, making her mouth into a Shape 'O'.

Gillian gave her a bitter smile, 'Cal was doing this to let me know that he's running out of money. He said I would love to use this card if I could, but this card was denied by the bank, he's pretty sure that I couldn't use it. That's why he said so.'

'How can you be so sure?' Bones was totally confused.

'I've known Cal for almost 10 years, I don't have to be an expert to see through his little tricks.' Gillian seemed to be experiencing a mixture of happiness and sadness, on one hand, she was mad at what Cal did, but on the other hand, deep down in her heart, not for a single day didn't she thank God for letting Cal be part of her life. Cal was always there with her when she needed him the most, never disappointed her, not even for once.

'But I don't get it, why would Dr. Lightman be running out of money? And even if he is, why is he asking you for it?'

Gillian contemplated recent 'dramas' between Cal and herself, 'Simply speaking, I drove off a wealthy and beautiful female investor, froze our bank account for once, and then I almost ruined his good things with a certain female detective, which made Cal really pissed.'

'Dr. Lightman and a detective? I thought you two were…you know…' Bones was clearly torn between saying what's on her mind and keeping her mouth shut.

However, Gillian totally got what she wanted to say, 'Oh, no no no, we're just friends, close friends.'

'Oh, and I'm sure you had good reasons to do all those things, you must have done it for Dr. Lightman's sake or your company's.' Brennan said seriously.

'Thank you, Dr. Brennan.' Gillian felt closer to this doctor, although she seemed awkward sometimes, she's treating everyone in her life with utter most sincerity.

'You can call me Temperance. I find it really nice talking to you, Dr. Foster.' Bones said smiling.

'Ok, then in that case, please call me Gillian, Temperance.' Gillian was very glad that Brennan looked her as a friend, 'so, tell me something about you and agent Booth.'  
'Like a girl talk?' Gillian suddenly reminded Brennan of her best friend, Angela, the artist always full of drama and gossip.

'Exactly. Just between you and me, a girl thing. How long have you two met?' Gillian was like a teenage girl in high school, with curious twinkle in her eyes.

'Booth and I have been partners for 6 years, and he's one of my best friends.' Bones smiled a bit forcedly, 'I'm sure you've seen already, I don't have many 'best friends', Gillian, in fact, I only have two. Booth being one of them.'  
'Oh, 6 years was quite a long period of time, I can see that you care deeply for each other.'

'Booth saved my life, three times, and the last time, he even took a bullet for me.' memory of that night at the bar flooded back to her head, Booth lying in her arms, his blood oozing from the gun shot wound. And then he was taken by the ambulance, only later her being told that Booth was dead.

Gillian realized that Brennan started to look a bit pale, she reached to hold her hand, 'Temperance, I'm sorry, you don't have to tell me this if you don't want to.'

Brennan shook her head, 'It's ok, I'm fine. Anyway, he's done a lot for me, so I'm willing to do anything I can for him.'  
Gillian saw love and care in Brennan's eyes, and somehow, Bones' words reminded her of Cal, that 'Arrogant, stubborn British', she remembered everything he did for her. In the hallway outside Claire's apartment, he helped her put on his coat with his familiar scent on it, taking her trembling and bloody body into his strong arms, letting her head rest firmly against his chest, listening to his steady heartbeat, which was the most reassuring sound she'd ever heard. But when the train of her mind stopped at Detective Wallowsky, her heart nearly dropped, how she wish the 'Loyalty' thing had never happened.

Only after a while did Gillian manage to take her thought back, she said to Brennan, 'Trust me, Temperance, I know the feelings, I'll do the same thing.'

Their attention was drawn to the served food when the waiter brought them over, especially Gillian, her attention was completely on the food now. Neither of them noticed that a man in black coat around the street corner was watching intensely their every move.

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**Looks like our faviorate characters are in danger :( stay tuned pls...there's more to come :)**


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N: I know, I know, it's been a long time since my last update...and I apologize for the delay, just wasn't in the mood for writing...**

**anyway, this chapter is a bit longer...enjoy!**

**Chapter Twelve**

**Basement Parking Garage**

After a satisfactory lunch, Gillian and Brennan went to pick up Gillian's car in the parking garage, happily talking all the way. Brennan never felt so close to anyone whom she only knew for a couple of days. Gillian shared the same feeling as Brennan, she liked this honest doctor. The two beautiful ladies had already become close friends like they'd known each other for decades.  
When Gillian was about to unlock her car, Brennan was suddenly aware of that there's another person behind them. Turning around subconsciously, she saw a man in black with a gun pointing at them. Gillian also sensed something wrong and turned to see a seemingly endless dark muzzle, feeling that all the air in her lung was sucked out.

'Dr. Brennan, Dr. Foster. It's a pleasure to finally meet you in person. I'd like you to go with me. Do what you're told, you'll not get hurt.' The voice of this man sounded muffled due to him wearing a mask.

'Who are you?' Brennan asked.

'That's none of your damn business, woman, now get in the car.' The man pointed at the black SUV parked behind him.

'You must be Michael Turner, Epps' little friend.' Gillian said calmly.

'Oh? How do I own the honor to be known by such a beautiful lady? We can chit chat later, now get in the car.' The man showed surprise on the fact that Gillian knew who he was, but returned to normal quickly.

Brennan's mind was working at the speed of thousands miles per hour. She evaluated the condition of Gillian, the man and herself, drawing the conclusion that without the gun, she could probably put up a good flight, but now, she had to take Gillian into consideration, she had to protect her. There's not even a slightest chance that they could get away from the gun man.

Gillian kept reminding herself to stay calm in order to think more effectively and rationally. Looked like there's no chance they could get away now, so she had to find a way to let Cal know that Brennan and she were abducted. Fortunately, she had her phone in her hand, but she knew as soon as the gun man found out, she could never keep her phone. So she hit the first speed dial, which was set as Cal's number for almost 10 years. After a few seconds, making sure that the call got through, Gillian tried her best to put on a scared look, trembling hands and 'accidentally' dropped her phone on the ground, hoping that the gun man wouldn't notice her little trick and Cal could hear what's going on with them over the phone.

'You scared? Dr. Foster? Then do as I told you.' The gun man didn't see through Gillian's little trick, thank God. Brennan and Gillian looked at each other for a second, slowly walking towards that black SUV. When they were about one meter away from that man, he tried to grab Brennan's arm and pull her into the car.

Brennan was waiting exactly for this moment, in the blink of an eye, she managed to grab his arm before he could even reach hers. She turned him around and pulled his arm behind his back, so that now she's facing his back. At the mean time, she tried to take a hold of the gun. Gillian realized what Brennan's going to do and stepped forward to help. But what they didn't expect was that the man was extremely strong and only with one hand, Brennan couldn't hold him long. The gun man let his head fall back with full force, connecting right with Brennan's nose. Blood came out and a sudden searing pain shot through her, forcing her loose grip on the man's arm. Brennan involuntarily stepped backwards and covered her bleeding nose. The gun man immediately grabbed Gillian's wrist and pulled her close. He locked his arm on her neck, pointing the gun right at her temple.

'Dr. Brennan, nice try. I have to say I underestimated you, but now, I have your friend, so you better get in the car before I put a bullet in her head.' The gun man said through gritted teeth.  
Gillian's whole body was shaking violently, she wished desperately that Cal was by her side, holding her hands and telling her that everything's gonna be ok, but the arm around her neck grew even tighter, which made her breath caught in her throat, coughing.

Brennan could tell that her nose might be broken, and now she could only smell blood in her nose. Looking at a frightened and in pain Gillian, she didn't really have a choice but to get into the car and handcuffed her self to the car seat. After the gun man's sure that Brennan wouldn't cause any more trouble, he pushed a handcuffed Gillian in and got in the driver's seat.

* * *

**Cal's Office, The Lightman Group**

After Foster and Brennan left for lunch, Cal kept going through those interrogation footages. He turned off the sound, focusing totally on Epps' facial expressions some tiny body movements. He was obviously lying about not killing those girls, with bright-as-day-light contempt and even pleasure, however, when he said 'I don't wanna die', it was an absolute truth. The sinking feeling in Cal's stomach released a little, at least he wouldn't choose to go to extremes such as to sacrifice himself in order to take down his enemy. His intelligence was undeniable, which made Cal unease.

'Sick Bastard.' Cal muttered through clenched teeth. This man was truly a clever jackass. Cal wasn't afraid of jackass, he could be one if he wanted to, but being clever as well was another story. Plus, this man mentioned Gillian's name in the last phone call, whenever he thought about this, a chill ran down his spine, the thought of he could've hurt Gillian was too scaring to bear.

Thinking of Gillian, a genuine smile made its way to Cal's usually blank face. He wondered what would be her reaction when she saw the credit card. He felt like a teenage school boy who fell in love with a lovely girl in his class. He enjoyed teasing Gillian, cracking some jokes about her even putting out some white childish 'prank' on her. Cal sighed inwardly, _Gillian had no idea how cute she looked whenever she rolled her eyes at me and what did this do to me._ Being able to work or just be near her made Cal happy.

Cal's cellphone started to ring, bringing him back to reality. He noticed the caller ID was Gillian and excitedly, he answered, 'Forgot about work, love? Are you at somewhere swanky? Using my credit card?' when he didn't hear Gillian's usual sigh or the unique way she said her name 'Cal', worry crept in.

'Gill? You there?' when he still got no response, he felt he couldn't breathe.

Finally, there came a voice on the other end, but it's not Gillian's. He heard a man's voice, 'You scared? Dr. Foster? Then do as I told you.'

Cal suddenly felt like he was punched in the gut, taking all the air out from his lungs. _Epps, the bastard, he's got Gillian and Brennan, Booth's goona kill me,_ Cal thought sadly.

Then there's a long, painful silence, followed by a groan, _'God! Not Gillian!'_ he prayed, and Cal Lightman had never prayed. Then there's the same voice, though sounded like coming from far away and unclear, the dangerous and threatening tone was unmistakable. Cal held his breath, hearing the man saying, 'Dr. Brennan, nice try. I have to say I underestimated you, but now, I have your friend, so you better get in the car before I put a bullet in her head.'

'Bloody hell! You leave her alone!' Cal barked into his phone, his veins were about to explode with rage, which made him totally forget that the man couldn't hear him. _'bullet in the head'_, these four words sucked all the life from him, never in his life had he felt that terrified.

After another painful silence, the last thing came into Cal's ear was the sound of a car's leaving.

'Pa', Cal fiercely swept all his belongs on his desk, including his fancy computer.

'Bloody hell! Bloody hell! Bloody hell!' Cal shouted, kicking everything within his reach. His 'drama' brought quite an attention from the staff.

Eventually, drained from rage, Cal calmed down and found the audience at his office door. He gestured to let them leave him alone then taking a deep breath, he dialed Booth's number.

* * *

**Michael Turner's Place**

Booth arrived at the address listed on Michael Turner's place with FBI guys.

'FBI, open up!' Booth shouted but seemed no response. Booth wasn't even sure this was still Turner's place now. 'FBI, open up!'

Still getting nothing, Booth was about to let the guys barge in, when he saw an envelope on the ground. He crouched down to pick it up, and Brennan's voice appeared in his mind, 'Booth, don't touch evidence with no gloves on.' He pulled back his hand immediately, grabbing a handkerchief, he picked it up.

Taking a close look, he realized his name was no the envelope. With shaking hands, he opened it, 'Agent Booth, if you're reading this letter, I assuming that you've already found my little friend, Michael. He's been a great help on this one. However, he's still got one mission yet to be accomplished, which is bringing Dr. Brennan and Dr. Foster to me. Good luck to you and to myself, agent Booth.' Booth felt sick, really sick.

His first reaction was to call Bones, and at this moment, Cal's call came through.

'Booth.' He barked.

'Agent Booth, it's Cal Lightman.' Cal had never been so nervous about talking to someone before, 'I have to tell you something.'

Booth's heart dropped, 'I'm listening.'

'He's got Gillian and Dr. Brennan. And you should locate Gill's cellphone, I think she left it where they were taken. Try Dr. Brennan's too.' Finally Cal said it, being angry as hell.

'I'm on my way.' Booth hung up, he gave Gillian and Brennan's numbers to the FBI tech-guy, had someone take the letter to Jeffersonian, hopefully Hodgins could find some little tiny dirt that lead them to Epps.

Finally, he put on the siren and stepped heavily on the gas, speeding to The Lightman Group.

* * *

**What will happen to Gillian and Brennan? *evil smile***


	13. Chapter 13

**A/N: I know, I know, you are probably thinking that I have vanished from the planet, well, now I can assure you that I'm still around, just being crazy busy lately...and super tired...**

**anyway, a new chapter below**

**DISCLAIMER: DON'T OWN THEM! DON'T SUE ME!**

* * *

**Chapter Thirteen**

**Unknown Place**

Handcuffed, with black hoods, Gillian and Brennan were pushed into a place like an abandoned warehouse.

'Dr. Brennan, nice meeting you again, and Dr. Foster, what a pleasure to finally meet you in person.' Epps' disgusting voice almost filled the open area.

Turner took off their hoods, a sudden light made them lightheaded and close their eyes again, waiting for the dizziness to pass.

When they eventually opened their eyes, Epps was standing about one meter away from them, with that ever-lasting disgusting and sickening smile designed for perverts. It was the first time that Gillian saw him, face to face, but the smell of danger was unmistakable, which made her step back a little.

'What? Dr. Foster? You're scared of me? Don't be. I'm so much of a gentleman, right, Dr. Brennan?' Epps was truly shameless.

'Go to hell.' Brennan said with clenched teeth.

On saying that, she felt Turner's rock hard fist connect with her abdomen. Using her full force, she silenced a painful cry, but the pain made her almost double over.  
'Stop it! Temperance, you ok?' Gillian asked with concern, hands still handcuffed behind her back, she could only crouch to see if Brennan's ok.

'I'm fine.' Brennan didn't want Epps to enjoy seeing her being weak. When she's about to straighten herself up, Turner grabbed her hair and pulled her up, with Epps' face right in front of her.

'You shouldn't have said that, Dr. Brennan, I honestly don't wanna hurt you, but you have to behave yourself.' Epps put his hand on Brennan's cheek, despite her effort to turn her head away, Turner's firm grip on her hair made her immobile, all she could do is shooting her angry gaze at Epps.

'Good girl. Let go of her, Michael.' Epps said lazily, 'I know you're a tough cookie, Dr. Brennan, but your friend here seems not, so you behave yourself or she gets hurt. Are we clear?'

Brennan nodded reluctantly and turned her head to look at Gillian, whose face was deathly pale and breath was shallow and quick, obviously she's in shock. Brennan moved towards Gillian as close as she can, whispering into her ear, 'Everything's going to be fine, Gillian. I won't let him hurt you.'

Gillian looked up to see Brennan's face, bloody yet absolutely firm, she felt a bit unease. She knew that she had to be strong, for Brennan and for herself, now what they had was each other. She also believed that Cal and Booth would definitely come to their rescue. She nodded to Brennan with a smile.

'Oh, that's touching.' Epps commented with a fake smile, 'Now girl time's up, let's get down to business.'

* * *

**Cal's Office, The Lightman Group**

Cal was pacing restlessly in his office, cursing himself for the thousandth time, 'I'm a bloody idiot…the stupidest bloody idiot…'

'Bang', his office door was slammed open, in coming a furious agent Booth. He grabbed Cal by his collar and punched him right in the face without any hesitation. You can't really blame Booth, he's been thinking about how to deal with this annoying, arrogant British bastard on his way over here.

Cal was knocked down by Booth's full force punch, hitting his forehead on the teapoy in the process, which started bleeding immediately. He wiped it carelessly, regaining his standing position, ready to confront this about-to-erupt-volcano FBI agent.

'I deserve that punch, really, I do. Maybe more. But can we do it after we save them? You can punch me all you like.' Cal said, breathing heavily.

Booth's rage was released a little bit with that punch, in fact, he was not sure if he's angry at Cal or he's angry at himself. It took an absolute idiot to let Bones leave his sight and stay with this British so called lie detector.

Cal could easily read remorse and regret on Booth's face, 'now is not the time for guilt and regret. Did you get the location?'

Booth was dragged back into reality, looking at Cal's bruised face, he could also see that what he's feeling was exact the same as himself. He hated to admit this, but Cal was right, their priority was saving Gillian and Brennan rather than getting into each other's faces.

'I've got the location, it's a basement parking garage. My people are on their way, let's go.' The professionally trained FBI agent was back on track.

Cal followed Booth to his car, praying for the second time that day that they'd find something useful.

* * *

**Basement Parking Lot**

Upon entering the parking lot, Cal recognized Gillian's black Carolla, which now made his heart twist painfully. He was with Gillian when she bought the car, he'd always liked Toyota cars, so he bought Pruis and talked Gillian into buying Carolla. He was thinking back then if it counted as 'matched couple car', and now, the car was silently parked in there, without its owner, his best friend, the woman he loved so much.

'Hey, you drifted off again?' Booth sounded more than a bit annoyed.

'No. I was just thinking…never mind, what did your people have for us?' Cal asked anxiously.

'Not much. We found Dr. Foster's cell phone under her car, and Bones' is in the car. Apparently, she left it there when they were having that stupid lunch.' Booth still couldn't suppress his anger when his thoughts came to Lightman letting them out for lunch alone.

'Ok, I get it. My fault! Can you just drop it for a second so we can focus on finding where the bloody hell they are?' Cal had been hard on himself since received Gillian's call, he didn't need Booth to remind himself of his damn fault every five minutes, so he yelled back, not sure he's angry at being yelled or at the fact they actually got nothing to work on.

'Fine. Just remember when this is all done, I wanna some time alone with you.' Booth barked at Cal.

'Agent Booth, you might want to take a look at this.' A FBI tech was calling Booth.

Booth and Cal walked to the place that tech pointed, feeling dread that they saw a pool of dried blood, which made their breath short and heart skip a beat.

'Whose blood is it?' Cal and Booth asked at the same time.

'We have to take a sample and run some test to find that out, but since it's a small pool of blood, there can't be much damage.' The young agent felt the murderous gaze from the men in front of him, so he tried to say something he thought would be a comfort.

'Oh, that's reassuring…' Cal said wryly and earned himself a angry look.

Booth's phone rang, 'Booth!' he picked up without looking at the caller's ID, rage evident in his voice.

'Hello to you too, agent Booth.' Epps' voice came from the other end, every muscle in Booth's body tightened, he would definitely twisted off the guy's head if he could.

'Where are they?' Booth didn't want to waste any time chitchatting with him.

Cal knew at this moment that who's calling, and he let the FBI tech trace the call. Though he knew the chance of it being traceable was almost zero, he had to at least try it, for Gillian's sake. He indicated that Booth put Epps on speaker so that he could hear what his words too, not that he wanted to, he didn't really have a choice.

'Well, you know I'm not gonna tell you that, otherwise, what's all the fun in it?' Epps' fake smile nearly made Cal throw up even though there's not much in his stomach right now.

'I swear to god I'll let you regret what you've done when I catch you, and I'll.' Booth was almost carried away by his rage.

Cal was relatively calmer, he asked, 'What do you want?'

'Oh, I almost forgot. Is this Dr. Lightman? Gillian said hi.' Epps deflected on purpose, and mentioning Gillian's name nearly made Cal lose control.

'Don't you dare call her like this and don't you dare touch her! You sick bastard!' Cal yelled into Booth's cell phone, fist clenching at his side.

'You two may not want to talk to me like this, or I'll hang up right now and you can say goodbye to them forever.' Epps threatened.

'Fine. What do you want?' Booth tried his best to let out a flat tone.

'Go get your computer and open this link.' Epps gave them a link to a website of some sort, hung up suddenly.

'What the hell…' Booth and Cal rushed to the back trunk of Booth's SUV, turned on the laptop, and typed the link in, finally what's showed on the screen made their blood run cold.


	14. Chapter 14

**A/N First of all, i'm really sorry for the delay in my update, i have no excuse except that my life's been giving me shit and all that...*sigh***

**this one's a bit longer, hope you enjoy!**

**Chapter Fourteen**

**Unknown Place**

Gillian and Bones were sitting in metal chairs, hands tied behind the back and ankles tied to the chair legs. They had no idea what did Epps mean by 'get down to business', but they knew better then to hope something good would happen.

Having Turner watch them, Epps left the room and came back with a camera, facing the direction where Gillian and Bones were.

'Sorry to keep you ladies waiting, the show is about to start.' Epps was doing something to the camera, 'I just made a call to your friends out there to make sure they watch it too.'

Gillan and Bones took a sudden breath, they knew for sure that Cal and Booth were worried sick, just like ants on a heated pan, not knowing what to do. They were struggling between wanting to be saved and not wanting Cal and Booth get hurt or caught in danger. They were too scared to think what this pervert would do to them.

After a while, the camera was on, Epps was standing about one meter away from Gillian and Bones, speaking towards the camera, 'Agent Booth, Dr. Light,an, as you can see, I've got Dr. Brennan and Dr. Foster here, so I believe I'm at a position of asking for something, which is to leave this country freely.'

'In your dreams!' Gillian retorted with obvious contempt, and out of blue, she was hit by Turner on the face, barely finishing her words. The intense pain made Gillian see stars, literally, but she tried her best not to yell because she knew it would make Turner and Epps satisfied, and most importantly, she knew Cal was watching all this and she didn't want him to worry more than he did now.

'Naughty, naughty.' Epps pointed at Gillian, facing the camera, 'Your friends here, they just cannot keep their mouths shut, so I have to shut it for them in my own way, you know, from time to time. What you just saw was a tiny piece of a large iceberg, I'll give you three hours to do what you need to get me and Michael out of this country. You better do it quick, coz during the next 3 hours, every 30 minutes, I'm gonna give you some reminder of the time passed, of course, with what I may do to your lady friends. I'll call you later with the exact plan.'

Bones was looking at Epps like he's a dog turd, she knew that Booth could see and hear her, so she used her full force yelling, 'Booth! You're gonna find us! Don't promise him anything!'

An expected fist was connected with her already injured nose, blood staring oozing out again.

Making sure Booth and Cal see this violet act, Epps turned off the camera, turned around, and said, 'Now let's have some fun, shall we?'

* * *

**Basement Parking Garage**

Cal and Booth watched the screen go black, blood boiling in every single vein in their body, but neither of them dared to break the silence. They weren't sure about the first word that'd come out of their mouth or their first action.

The image of Gillian being tied to the chair kept playing in Cal's mind, the evident fear in her eyes was like an invisible hand, clenching his heart, painfully, and Turner's slap on Gillian's face was almost like someone's grabbing his throat, making him suffocated.

Next to Cal, Booth was no better, pale, short breath, he tried several times taking deep breath to calm himself down, but all his attempts failed. Thinking of Bones' scared and sad expression, felt like all his internal organs were screwed together, but as an honored soldier and a FBI agent who fights murderers all the time, he forced himself to calmness faster then Cal did.

'So, I'll send this video back to the Jeffersonian, see what Angela can get from it. ' Booth's voice brought Cal back to the cruel reality.

'ok, you do that. We're gonna find them, right? We're not gonna let this bastard get away from all this!' Cal looked straight at Booth.

'No, we're not, but we have to move fast, and when Epps calls again, we have to tell him we agree to the deal to buy us more time, buy them more time.' Booth sighed.

Cal nodded and Booth's phone rang again, both knowing who's calling.

'What's the deal?' Booth asked right away.

'Agent Booth, Dr. Lightman, did you enjoy the show? Coz I really did.' Epps said slowly. The thing with Epps was, when Cal and Booth thought he couldn't be more annoyed, he always proved that they were wrong about that, a whole new level of annoyance.

'Michael and I are goona wait at … (…stands for a certain longitude and latitude, I don't do the geographic thing well, so to avoid idiotic mistake, …does the trick), you're gonna pick us up and send us out of the country. Once I'm safe, I'll tell you where they are.' Epps told them his plan.

'How can we be sure that you won't break up the deal?' Booth asked, he knew better than to trust this man.

'You can't. All you can do is to trust me, which I reckon is very hard for you two. My apologies.'

'Fine. We'll find a way.' Booth told him, 'and we don't need that time reminder.'

'No can do. You will work faster with the time reminder. I'll check up on your progress every 30 minutes and the sooner you get all these done, the shorter they'll suffer. If you can't do it on time, there's no promise what I may do. Get back to work.' Epps turned down Booth's request and hung up without another word.

Booth was shaking all over, cursing whatever was on his mind. The bastard, he was going to hurt Bones and Gillian every 30 minutes, he had to be quick.

'Agent Booth, we found something.' A young agent called out to him, 'near the dry blood we found some braking marks, I can't be sure, but I don't think this is from some ordinary car tire. I've taken sample, and I'll do the analysis when we get back.'  
'Thank God!' Cal released a breath he didn't know he's been holding, and heard Booth say, 'No, take all the evidence and samples back to the Jeffersonian, I want the best and the fastest.'

The young agent looked emotionally hurt by Booth's distrust, but all he could do was to obey.

What Cal could do now was to pray those geniuses he had yet to meet might be able to perform some sort of magic.

* * *

**Unknown place**

Epps hung up the phone, smiled gruesomely at Gillian and Bones, who could literally feel goose bumps begin to surface, and he said, 'Looks like you two have indeed some sort of value, Dr. Brennan, I said earlier that you were priceless, I hate to admit this, but Agent Booth does have a good taste on women. Of course, Dr. Foster, you're not bad yourself, only you've chosen a lame British, what a shame.'

'Cal is way better than you pathetic bastard, you don't even have the ground to be compared to him. You're weak, only dare to bully women, I feel so sorry for your mother that she raised such a child.' Gillian knew that Epps' mother was his weakness, so she chose to poke right there.

Sure enough, Epps showed rage and contempt immediately, he barked at Gillian, 'Shut up, bitch! You don't talk like this, you don't talk about my mother!'

'Oh? So I'm onto something, right? You pathetic tiny little bug.' Gillian was a strong woman, never backing down.

Epps strode up to Gillian, grabbed her jaw and said through clenched teeth, 'I said SHUT UP! People like you, you always think you know everything, you think you see through me. Let me tell you something, in your dreams! You're far from knowing who I really am and what I'm capable of. I suggest you behave, Dr. Foster, or don't blame me for not being a gentleman.'

When Gillian felt her jaw was about to crack, Epps let go of her coz he heard Brennan saying, 'There's no way Booth would agree to your demand, he won't let someone like you walk away, your good days are countable!' On say that, Brennan closed her eyes, ready to take another blow to the face, but to her surprise, Turner didn't hit her this time.

'Dr. Brennan, I'm not asking you to believe me, as long as your dear Agent Booth believes me. Now you can launch verbal attack on me all you want, but remember the reminder every 30 minutes, we can deal with that altogether. Michael, let's go outside, let ladies have a decent chat.

Hearing the door locked, Gillian felt a little more relieved, at least for now, they didn't have to worry about being hit.

'Temperance, is your nose ok?' Gillian asked with concern, wincing when her own wounds hurt a bit.

'I'm fine, probably a miner fracture, but the bleeding is stopped. Booth didn't really promise him that, didn't he?' Brennan still couldn't believe that.

'This must be their trick to buy them more time to find us, I trust Cal to come to our rescue.' Gillian offered a reassuring smile.

'Oh, you do trust Dr. Lightman very much, Gillian. Don't get me wrong, I trust Booth with all my life, it's just I'm afraid he may get hurt for saving me.' Brennan smiled bitterly.

'Don't be so pessimistic, everything's gonna be alright.' Even Gillian didn't really believe her own words, it's just the shrink inside of her talking. She wanted desperately to go home, go to Cal, when the nightmare's over, IF the nightmare's over.

'You know what, the situation we're in now reminds me of my previous experience of being kidnapped. Looks like kidnappers have a thing for me.' Brennan tried to crack a joke, making Gillian laugh a bit, 'Booth was already injured when he saved me, several broken ribs, he should be in the hospital, resting. He didn't have enough strength to lift me up, so he hold me tight until we're finally safe. I know it's not rational, but I did see my knight in the shining armor, Gillian, do you believe me?' Bones asked seriously.

'Of course I do.' Gillian answered, smiling, 'several months ago, I was on my way back from a victim's place, the suspect attacked me from behind and dragged me to his car.' Gillian's face turned a bit pale when recalling this part of her memory, 'I thought no one's gonna save me back then, but suddenly there came a sound of brake, and that man got panicked and ran away. Then someone rushed to my side, and took me protectively into a tight hug. I struggled a bit at first coz I was really scared and everything was vague, but the man that was holding me tightened his arms and kept saying soothing thing by my ear, finally, I recognized it was Cal, he saved me, as always. He accompanied me to the hospital, standing by my side when I was getting treatment. I have to say, I saw my knight in the shining armor too.' Deep in thought, a happy and genuine smile appeared on Gillian's face.

Gillian's smile was infectious, the corner of Brennan's mouth rose up a bit subconsciously.

'Booth, hurry up…I've always trusted you and I always will…' Brennan murmured.

* * *

what do you think? pls leave a review :)


	15. Chapter 15

**A/N: Hey guys! How's your weekend? Mine's really relaxing so I decided to do another chapter, and here it is.**

**I'm not sure if you guys like my story or not, but based on the number of reviews... pls kindly give me some feedback.**

**Enjoy!**

**Jeffersonian Lab**

Booth and Cal rushed into Jeffersonian lab, strode there way right to where Hodgin's station is.

'What did you get from the envelope?' Booth practically shouted his question out.

'Wow, wow, wow. Calm down, g-man. Who's this guy?' Hodgins pointed at Cal.

'I'm Cal Lightman, assisting FBI on Epps' case and he's got my friend now, so don't tell us to calm down, if you've found something, anything, split it out!' Cal's accent grew thicker when he's talking fast.

'O…kay…' Hodgins was more then a bit surprised by Cal's British accent and his rapid speech, 'I did find something valuable. Epps' finger prints are all over the envelope, I know, I know it seems a bit obvious, but I found this on the finger prints.'

Under the death glare of two men in front of him, Hodgins knew better then to be Hodgins-like. Fingers flying over the keyboard, some sort of chemical compound appeared on the screen.

'What the hell are these?' Booth's patience was becoming thinner and thinner.

'It's paint!' Cal and Hodgins said simultaneously.

'Hey, you're not bad!' Hodgins was impressed.

'So basically you're telling me Bones was held captive in a paint factory? Do you have any idea there are how many factories of this kind in D.C?' Booth still sounded frustrated.

'Ok, this is why I'm called King of the lab, you don't need to look into all the factories. Although there's only a little residual on the envelope, I managed to determine that one of the elements is natural resin, which was rarely used in production of paint over the past 5 years, manufacturers use synthetic resin instead, except for this one, ' Hodgins typed a few words, a logo popped out, 'Natural Painting, it kept using natural resin in the production until they went bankrupt last year. Given that such small amount of residual can lead me to natural resin, I'm sure wherever they're keeping them, it's a recently abandoned workshop or warehouse, otherwise, it would have volatilized. Ergo, this one fits the description, it's my best guess!'

'Well done, Hodgins, I need address for all its abandoned warehouse or workshop, I'm gonna find them, even if it means to tear Washington apart.' Booth said firmly, walking to the direction of Angela's office.

'Thank you, Dr…uh…' Cal suddenly realized that he didn't know Hodings' name, guess he was paying attention when Booth addressed him.

'Hodgins, Jack Hodgins, you're welcome, Dr. Lightman.'

Cal nodded at him, turned around to find Booth.

**Unknown Place**

Gillan and Bones' girl talk was interrupted by the sound of door opening, revealing Epps and Turner.

'Dr. Brennan, Dr. Foster, looks like you were having a good time. I hate to interrupt, but you see, it's been half an hour and it's time to give our beloved agent Booth a little reminder.' Epps fished out his phone.

In the meantime, Gillian and Bones's attention was drawn to the two paint buckets brought into the room and put right in front of them by Turner. Bones realized immediately what's gonna happen and turned to look at Gillian, whose face was featured with fear, which means she knew it, too.

'Are you ready?' Epps offered a sick smile and dialed Booth's number.

**Angela****'s Office**

Booth was asking Angela about the tire mark when his phone started ringing.

'Shit!' Cal glanced at his watch, 'It's been half an hour.'

'what happens after half an hour?' Angela asked in a frightened tone.

'We're about to find out.' Booth sighed heavily and took the call.

'Agent Booth, how's things going? Let me give you some reminder in case you are too busy to notice the time. Open the link I gave you earlier.' Epps said.

Cal opened the link on Angela's computer, showing the image of Gillian and Bones tied to the chairs, only this time, there're two bucket of water in front of them and Turner's grabbing their hair.

'Oh my god! Brennan!' Angela's hand flew to cover her mouth, tear threatening to fall down.

'Everything's going exactly the way you want, Epps, don't hurt them.' Booth's tone was filled with plea.

'I'm afraid I can't do that, it's our deal, every 30 minutes. If you want them to suffer less, you should've moved faster. Agent Booth, it's all on you.'

Without any further warning, Cal, Booth and Angela watched the most painful thing they've ever experienced happen right there, but there's nothing they could do: Turner grabbed Gillian and Bones' hair and pressed their heads violently into water for what felt like forever, despite their struggle.

'You stop that right now or I'll make sure you suffer for the rest of your life!' Cal shouted insanely into Booth's phone, watching Gillian suffering like that, his heart was bleeding.

**Unknown Place**

Epps was really enjoying the show he put on, he gestured to Turner to pull them up. Upon inhaling fresh air, Gillian and Bones started to cough violently, especially Bones, her injure in the nose made her breathe with extreme difficulty, her face pale, lips blue, body shaking. Gillian couldn't even talk due to the cough, she felt like her lungs were going to explode, the freezing water cause her teeth shiver relentlessly.

Epps cut off the video source, said one more thing to Booth and Cal before the hung up, 'Tick, Tick, Tick, that's the sound of their life running out.'

**Angela****'s Office**

Silence, deathly silence filled Angela's office, except for Angela's sobbing, ' Booth, what do we do?' she prayed inward, hoping the big FBI guy could offer her an answer.

'We find where they are.' Booth said, gritting his teeth, clenching his fists, knuckles turning white. Bones' pale face and blue lips were carved into his mind, all he could do now was to find her, save her and never let go.

Angela nodded, turned to look at Cal, he looked like he's gonna pass out, face white as a piece of paper, hands trembling.

'Dr. Lightman, you ok?' Angela asked concernedly.

'No, I'm not. I'm…I'm gonna kill him when I find him.' Cal's eyes were fixed on the computer screen, even thought there's no longer image there, Gillian's face, that pair of pain filled blue eyes, were staring back at him, asking silently when's he gonna go save her. Thinking back to the 10 years they've known each, Cal lost count on how many times he put himself, Gillian and the whole company in danger, and how many times Gillian was like the present him, frightened, but not able to do anything. This feeling was like watching one's own blood leaving his body gradually, painful but still not unconscious enough to slip into darkness. Cal didn't dare to think about 'what if', he swore to save Gillian and hold her, protect her for the rest of his life.

Finally, the deathly silence was broken, Booth put himself together and asked about the tire mark. Angela wiped her eyes carelessly, sniffed a bit, 'I analyzed the tire mark, indeed, it isn't some common car tire we use, it's tread's a bit different and strange. Since the mark from the scene's a bit shallow, I'm trying to do the reconstruction to see if I can get the whole tire tread, then to compare it to what we have in the database.'

'How much longer do you need?' Cal asked anxiously.

'I can do the reconstruction and comparison simultaneously, and I'll do it as fast as I can. Dr. Lightman, Brennan is my best friend, and I can see that Dr. Foster means a lot to you, so I know what I should do.' Angela reassured him.

'Ok, thank you, really, I mean it.' Cal gave Angela a last grateful look, then walked out of her office.


	16. Chapter 16

**A/N: Hey guys! I know it's been forever since my last update and I really hate myself for not posting it sooner, it's just that sometimes life gets in the way and I was thinking about quitting but it suddenly crossed my mind today that I still have an unfinished story so here I am, begging for forgiveness...**

**Hopefully you still remember what this story is about...**

**Jeffersonian Lab**

'Hodgins, what do we have?' Booth found himself counting on the bug guy more than he cared to admit.

'I located the abandoned warehouses, there're five of them but they're like everywhere.' Hodgins pointed at the red dots spreading on the map, 'It's impossible to search all of them with Epps breathing down our neck every 30 minutes.'

'Bloody hell.' Cal couldn't help but swore.

Booth patted Cal on the shoulder understandingly then turned back to Hodgins, 'Try to find out if there's anything more on that envelope that can help us narrow it down, I trust you to do your job Hodgins.'

'You can count on me, man.' Without even a slightest hint of hesitation, Hodgins promised, which earned him a grateful nod from the two agitated men.

* * *

**Unknown Place**

Epps and Turner left the room again, leaving Gillian and Brennan shaking from the previous ordeal.

'Temperance, how are you feeling?' Gillian sounded worried, though she herself was not in good shape either. The places where her hands and feet were tied were already raw and are oozing out blood but her gut was telling her that a possible broken nose plus freezing water was definitely not a good combination.

'As good as can be…' Bones coughed violently, in fact, the cough was getting harder to suppress after Turner pushed her head into the water, 'it's like my throat was on fire.'

'then don't try to talk, close your eyes and get some rest. Cal will come to the rescue.' Gillian managed to move the chair a little bit closer to Bones' and her eyelids starting to fall despite the wheels turning in her head.

* * *

**Angela's Office**

Watching Angela's finger flying over the keyboard, trying to find a match for the tire while using another computer to process the recording of Epps' phone call and video to see if she can separate the background sound to narrow down their target.

'You love her, right?' Cal asked Booth out of nowhere and Booth was just stunned.

'You love her and yet you don't have the courage to tell her.' Cal added as if the bomb he just dropped was not big enough.

'You're talking about me, Dr. Lightman? What about you and Dr. Foster? Did you ever tell her that you loved her?' Booth asked rhetorically.

'That's a deflection, Agent Booth. So you do love her, don't you? And now you're regretting not telling her coz you might not have the chance anymore.' The last statement was way too blunt even for the infamous Cal Lightman, but deep down in his heart, he knew that he's talking about himself as well.  
'You shut up! They're gonna be fine!' Booth pointed his finger at the English man, he was beyond furious, 'and FYI, I did tell her but got turned down. Unlike you, I'm not a coward.'

Hearing what Booth said, Angela's head snapped up, 'wait, what? You told her, Booth? And she turned you down? Why didn't I know about this?'

'It's a while ago, Angie, and Bones and I agreed not to tell anyone.'  
'And yet you told him!' Angela gestured angrily towards Cal who shrugged.

'Guess I just have the magical power.' Cal offered a one side grin.

'Oh, shut up. Why didn't you tell her?' Booth asked Cal like he was interrogating a suspect.

'I'm not sure if I'm good enough for her, you know, I do stupid things all the time…' suddenly feeling self-conscious, Cal remembered his painful struggle when Emily asked him what was he waiting for if he really loved Gillian.

Seeing Cal's almost whining self, Angela couldn't take it anymore, she jabbed a finger into his chest, 'You listen up! You better stop thinking all that 'not good enough' crap and tell her your true feeling. Whether you're good enough or not, it's not your call, it's hers. So quit using that dumb excuse and grow a pair!' Angela was very confident being a 'relationship expert', if she's the second best then no one is the first.

Despite the harsh tone of Angela's, she really did make a good point, which made Cal absolutely embarrassed. Being scolded by a girl and not able to fight back because she's totally right, that's a first for Cal Lightman. Only at that moment, he realized that he couldn't denying the truth anymore, his feelings for Gillian ran much deeper than he'd admitted to himself or Emily for that matter. When she asked 'what are you waiting for?', he was waiting himself to become a better man. He always thought Gillian was too perfect to be with him but what Angela said struck him that he should man up and tell her, no matter what her decision would be.

'Didi, didi', Angela's computer started to ring, which pulled all three of them out of the 'relationship conference', 'Oh my god! I think I just found the car!' exciting tears starting to form in Angela's eye.

'What do you mean?' Booth and Cal almost ran into the monitor.

'I reconstructed the thread and compared it to all the models on the market, guess what? This is indeed a special tire, it's used exclusively on the cars for law enforcement.'

'Michael Turner was a prison officer, so that means it's a prison car? But wouldn't it be too obvious to drive such a car around? I mean, and how did he get his hand on it?' Cal still had a lot of questions.

'If you'll allow me to finish, Dr. Lightman. The prison in which Epps was held sold out some old cars to their staff, and staff only. Everyone who bought the car needed to register it when he modifies the exterior design and changes the plate.' Angela pulled up an excel sheet, and fixed on one name, 'This is the registration record for the Prison of Washington, and it shows that after Turner bought the car, he repainted it to black and the plate number was changed to 'Washington, D.C. FOP 2924'. This is the car!' with a final click of mouse, a picture popped up.

'Good job, Angela, really good.' Booth pulled her into big hug.

'Don't hug just yet, mate. How are we supposed to find a single car here in Washington?' Cal didn't want to get his hopes up too high, just in case…

'Right, this is where Hodgins' finding comes into handy.' Booth took out the notepad with five addresses for the abandoned warehouse, 'I'll have someone pull up the footage of the traffic camera for the past 2 hours and Angie, you're going to find the car with whatever super high-tech software you have!'


End file.
